RTD unveiled a new underground bus depot at Union Station on Friday that promises to make a daily trip to the office downtown brighter, safer, healthier and considerably more handsome than Denver commuters are used to.

The depot — which opens May 11, replacing Market Street Station as the transit system's main hub — will rewrite the way thousands of motor coach riders use public transportation in the urban core. It will connect them directly to the region's growing light-rail system and allow them to zip quickly across downtown via a new Free MetroRide shuttle that runs up 19th Street to Civic Center before looping back along 18th Street.

A centerpiece of the $500 million renovation transforming Union Station overall, the bus concourse sits 25 feet underground and stretches 1,100 feet along 17th Street. But it is illuminated naturally during the day by seven large skylights that pop up through the concrete above, allowing sunshine and heat into the building.

White walls, yellow glass tiles and a terrazzo floor keep the space airy. So does a ventilation system that automatically monitors levels of carbon monoxide and flushes sections of the interior as needed.

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"It's not like walking through a cave," said Jerry Nery, Union Station project manager. "I think commuters will appreciate the setting."

The 22-bay station will be so well-ventilated, the 1,113 buses that pass through each day will actually idle indoors as they are staged for departure.

It will also be secure with "hundreds of cameras" monitoring activity, Nery said. Structural columns are surrounded by 1-inch steel plating to protect from unexpected impact, and bollards are buried deep into the ground around entrances to stop approaching vehicles. RTD used consultants as diverse as U.S. Homeland Security and Buckley Air Force Base in developing safety procedures.

The overall design is by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, long one of the country's most respected architecture firms. The concourse is full of clean lines and walls with unusual slants, corners that subtly curve. Among the most prominent visual features are interior glass windows that allow commuters to check on their buses before they exit the building to board.

The concourse itself sits below the water table on a "floating slab" of concrete that is 4 feet thick to keep it waterproof. It is in line to receive LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nod to its environmental sensitivity.

Workers clean up in front of the Chestnut Pavilion entrance to the Underground Bus Concourse at the Union Station Transit Center during a media tour. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

"Very few transit projects get LEED certification, and we are very proud of that," Nery said.

At either end of the station, at Chestnut Place and Wewatta Street where it rises to ground level, entrances are covered in a tented, Teflon-coated fabric similar to the roof at Denver International Airport.

For commuters using the station, the connections to downtown will be varied. Bus passengers can exit the building into Union Station, set to open in June with shops and restaurants. Or they can take a short walk to the existing Free MallRide that travels along 16th Street.

But the big change is the Free MetroRide, which unlike the MallRide makes only a few stops on its 10-minute journey to 16th and Broadway. RTD expects 12,000 people a day to hop on the 40-seat coaches, marked by a signature teal color to set them apart from other buses.

For commuters who work along busy 18th and 19th streets, the commute to work will be considerably faster, minus the two- or three-block walk currently required from 16th Street.

Some stops along the line have been built as "bus bulbs" with concrete pads set partly into the street so that buses have an easier time loading.

"It brings the passengers to the bus instead of the bus to the passengers," said RTD planner Lacy Bell.

RTD will have a celebration of the new concourse on May 9, when the public can wander the site and explore, as well, the new rail platform and steel canopy that will serve train lines.

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

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